Room Five

While the news of the gold discovery spurred many people to action, not everyone was prepared to rush to California. M. Bates apparently felt that his interests lay in staying where he already had all the business he could handle. In response to an apparent offer to include him in a "California Expedition," his last line states that "I have not the time to give though[t] or enter into any new business transactions."

Many of those who came worried greatly of the welfare of their loved ones left at home. Here, Thomas T. Seward writes of monetary concerns for his wife, child, and mother.

This pamphlet used the talents of Alonzo Delano and Charles Nahl to satirize the gold miner's life. One owner of this particular edition has added his own annotation to the text. Apparently home was near the Kennebeak River and the miner was working at the "Honcut diggins - near Wyandot." Honcut Creek was named after the Maidu Indian village, Hoan'kut, which was located on the Yuba River just below where the Honcut Creek enters the Yuba.

The fourth in a series of books called the "Home Books" by Cousin Alice, this novel portrays the life of Sid Gilman, who ventures to California with his father, a man who succumbs to temptation regularly. Sid's resourcefulness eventually gains him a quantity of gold, but he does not find happiness.

The gold rush impacted the imaginations of people around the world. As adventurers departed their homes for the gold fields writers began to supply the home countries with literature. Les Petits Voyageures en Californie, a novel intended for the juvenile market, describes the adventures of a Frenchman by the name of M. Canton. His voyage takes him to New York, to Panama, to San Francisco, and then to the mines.

Interspersed with an almanac are humorous comments and cartoons satirizing the gold fever caused by the rush to California.

One of the main concerns of both those who stayed behind and those who came was whether they would ever see their loved ones again. In this plaintive ballad a miner makes his last requests to be remembered by his loved ones who stayed at home.